BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 90, 10 January 1920, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Submarines and Sea Power. For several years before the grea war Mr. Charles Domville-Fife, jutno of "Submarines and Sea Power"' (Lon don: George Bell and Sons), had mad a special study ot l.he development o the submarine. During the war In supplemented this earlier-gained know ledge by a personal and practical ex perience, being first employed in com mand of anti-submarine cralt, and late: on in the great struggle, occupying ai importaut position on tho fetal! of II.M School of Submarine Mining. He has now written a volume of the highes' luiitaruncu to all who aro interested in tho future of tho submarine, Tho author first describes the evolutioi of the. submarine, and the developmeni of submarine fleets, and then deals witt the development of .the counter-attack In a chapter headed "The Battleship; of To-morrow,'' tho author foreshadow: the battleship of the future as beinj submersible. li t 1901, tho surface dis placement of submarines barely exceeded 100 tons, in l'Jfla it had risen to au average of 300 tons, in 1910-11 this waf doubled, and in l'Jl4 the displacement had reached 1200 tons, with corresponding increases in engine-power, speed, armament, range, seaworthiness, habilability, and safely. It may be taken for granted that tho sine ol the submarine will still further increase, that the submarine of tho future will bo able 1c go out further and further from its base, that it will carry heavier guns, and discharge mure destructive torpedoes, that, in fact, its offensive power must enormously increase. But Mr. DomvilleI'lfo also makes it clear that tho s bigger the submarine the ' more Tajj.my its employment reaches the line of limitation. The larger tho submarine the greater the deptli of water it will need. Also, to light successfully, it must come to tlie suriace, and tho greater its size the bigger and easier target it becomes. It would seem that, after all, the naval battle of the future will bo decided on the surface, and that torpedoes and mines will not permanently supplant the gun. Tho author esam'iies tho pros and cons of every phase of submarine warfare. He discusses the probable influence of the submarine on the liaval strategy of the future, its effect on the relative duties and powers of offence and defence of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. He deals also with tho scope and limitation of submarine attack and defence, and devotes a special chapter to tho important subject of the submarine iniiio and its influence on the conduct of naval war. The final chapter is devoted to an examination of tho probable influence) of the submarine on the national life of maritime nations, tike" author' dealing more particularly with the economic effects of submarine warfare on such nations. In this latter connection the following passage may be quoted:— The direct effect of submarine warfare oil tho mercantile marine and commerce of a nation ultimately places a, burden on its financial resources, both national and private. In order that, merchant vessels may keep the seas, tho State must come to tho aid of tho ownera and underwriters. If tho losses of ships and cargoes are heavy, then it is the people, through their Government, who must, bear that loss iu addition to paying the increased prices for imported commodities duo to tho same disasters and to the increases in the rates of insurance. There lias also to be reckoned the natural increase ii; tho price of these commodities due to tho wastage of supplies through wholesale Jobs at sea, and tho unnatural increases duo to neutral markets raising the price? artificially in view of the need of belligerents. Iu this way a quadruple financial burden is placcd on a nation at war when the necessity exists for maintaining ,the full ebb and flow of oversea commerce, and is, in itself, without the menaco of starvation, a sufficient inducement for rvery nation, where possible, to organise at least its agricultural and pastoral iesources in time of peace, so as to provide a sufficiency of necessaries in timo of war. Mr. Domrille-Fife's book may be regarded as a cyclopaedia of the submarine and submarine warfare. It is by far the most comprehensive and valuable work on tho submarine that lias yet been published. "The Vital Message." In "The Vital Juessage" (ilethuen and Co.), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose conversion to spiritualism is now apparently complete, tne inquirer auu investigator Being now the full-blown believer, and, more than mere believer, tho zealous preactier of his accepted gospel, carries forward the work of expounding what he believes to be the true faita. "Tho Vital Message" is, in its way, tha complement of "Tho New in which tho author described "the first dawn of the coming change." In "The \ ital Messago" "the Mm," says the author, "has risen higher, and ono sees mure clearly and broadly what our new relations with the "Unseen may be." In the opening chapter, "The Two Needful lieadjustments," Sir Arthur says some hard things about the Old Testament, iu which, so he contends, every hard-hearted brute in history, mere especially in the religions wars,' found ins inspiration. . , . iia red trail runs tnrougn history. Jfiven wnere tne Xeiv Testament prevails, iia teaching must erin be nulled ana clouded by its stonier neignioour. ijel us retain tnia nouourcd v.wii of literature. Let us remove the taint wnicn poisons tho very spring of our religious tnougnt. < It would nut bo difficult for even 'Liter," who is no theologian, to show tnat Sir ArtJiur sadly overstates the ciwe against the Out Testament. Where the author lis on sounder ground—although here, too, objection may be taken to tome of Jiis views (more particularly on the lessons of tho Crucifixion)—is when lie pleads for a wider, deeper recognition of tho "beautiful lesson of Chritt's life" as apart from His dlath, "beautiful and indeed perfect as it was." Christ's death was worthy of His life, and rounded otf a perfect carcer, hut it is the life which Ho has left as the Inundation for the permanent religion of mankind. All the religious wars, the private feuds, and tho countics* miseries of sectarian contention would have been at least minimised, if not avoided, had the bare examjilo of Christ's life been adopted as tho standard of life and of religion. a chapter entitled "The DawniDg of the Light," Sir Arthur sketches the history of spiritualism. In a succeeding chapter. "The Great Argument," he endeavours to show "what is tho purpose of the Creator in this strange revelation of new intelligent, forces impinging upon our planet. Sir Arthur's definition of 'the physical basis of nil psychic belief is that Ihc soul is a complctvJuplicato of tho body, resembling it in the smallest, particular. although constructed in eomo far more tenuoiiß material. In ordinary conditions theso two bodied arc intermingle,! so that tho identity ot the finer one IS entirely obscure;!. At death, how»ver, and under certain conditions in tho course of life, the hvo divido i-ixl can be toen separately. Death diffcra from the conditions of separation before death in tnat. there is a complete break between tho I m*o bodies, and life in carri«yl on entirely by the lighter of the two, while the heavier, like a cocoon r rom which 'ho living occupant has escaped. degenerates and disappears, the v.-crld burying the cocoon with much solemnity, but tailing littlo pains to ascertain what has become of its nobler contents The author claims that these, facts nave been examined and endorsed "hv main- of the sreatest intellects the world hns produced in our time," including l-lammarion. I.omhroso, liichet, and K.usfioll Hallace, Iteichel, Myers, Miner, .Tames Lodge and Crookes. "[ have never." he savs. "in my thirty vears of experience, known one singlo scicniific man who went thoroughly into this matter. and did not end. by accepting tho Sniritual solution." To follow* tho <nit.hor through tho various arguments and personal experiences bv which he fortifies his general contention that

sniritualism has a true and noble messast) for the ■ world is impossible here. Hfi claims that "modern psychic knowledge, so !'ar from supplanting Christianitv. would show the surprising accuracy of the details ot' Christ's life as handed down to us." and asks the religions bodies "lo discourage their own bigots and sectarians, and to seriously consider, if onlv for self-preservation, how they can net into line once liiorc with that ecner.il level of human thought which is now so far in front of them." Although, in this book, there is, as there must neeessarilv be. much which clashes with orthodox Christian belief, the reverential, earnest, and sincere manner of its presentation cannot fail to win respect for the author. The appendices include details of certain experiments in spirit photography, for the bona fides of which the author vouches. Whatever may be thoucrht of Sir Arthur's arguments, the frankness, the modesty of the book must at once be. cordially recognised. (6s. Gil.).